Friday, May 24, 2013

Hi folks! I thought that I would give you all a look at the
write up and an excerpt of Nice Shootin’ Tex!, my latest, which is a
contemporary western/women’s fiction/romance novel about a sweet girl just
trying to find her way in the world:

Here is the write-up:

Lauren
McCoy, is a beautiful, smart, artistic, sweet, hardworking, sharp-shooting
cowgirl of a woman who is feeling the urge to leave her daddy's farm and strike
out on her own to make a life for herself, and hopefully find love too.

The catalyst for change is a cable TV show shooting contest that her brother
enters her into. Defying her father and going further away from home than she
ever has before, she goes on to show the world (and a very sexy TV show host)
just how good a shot she is.

However, there is more to winning at shooting and winning at love than meets
the eye. Lauren learns that even though she can't win at everything, she is
still triumphant because she has a home full of love to come home to, and a
happy future she could not predict.

And here is the excerpt:

Vibrant red
canopies covered the grounds behind the mansion.Under one canopy was a Barbeque pit being
tended to by uniformed employees.Another tent contained tables with electronic equipment with small
monitors, and a few people watching those.The third tent, a very large one held a massive screen.Stepping closer to that tent, I found that
the images on the screen were bits and pieces of Season One of American
Sharpshooter.I was impressed by the
skills demonstrated by the competitors on the show.Some of the shots I knew I could have made;
others I was certain that I could not make.

"I'm
going to go mingle," said Suzy after a minute.

"I think
that I'll stay here to watch the footage for a while longer," I said with
a smile.

"It's
good preparation; I watched the entire show myself already."

With that, she
left my side.I watched her as she
easily mingled with a few of the guys outside of the food and beverage
tent.I knew that I should do the same,
but I was too transfixed with the footage from the last season of the
show.

"I hated
the way my hair looked last season," I heard a voice say from next to me.

Trevor was
standing right next to me; he wasn't looking at me at all but was watching the
video on the large screen.My heart
began to pound in my chest at the realization of his presence.How long had he been standing there?Not knowing what else to do, I looked back at
the screen.His hair had been longer,
but it didn't look bad.Nervously, I
turned to look at him and noticed that it was shorter - and that it looked
better too.

"It looked
good then, Trevor.It looks good
now," I said with a blush.

Just then, he
turned his beautiful green eyes from the screen to my own.My breathing quickened and my pulse raced as
I felt his eyes drink me in.I watched
as his eyes looked me over and I felt my mouth dry.

"You look
lovely tonight, Lauren," he said in a quiet, husky tone.

I took a
breath and held it as I looked at him up close.His skin was lightly tanned - he probably worked in the sun a lot.He had a long straight nose that looked so
refined on him.His dark brown hair and
his dark eyelashes made his green eyes pop even more.He wore a red canvas shirt like the kind Tim
wore.He also wore blue jeans and
boots.He wasn't that tall though -
maybe only five foot ten to my five feet of height but with all of his
features, he looked like he belonged on a commercial or a magazine or something
- he looked that handsome.Which was
probably why he was on television, after all.Finally, I released the breath I'd forgotten I'd been holding.He half smiled at me before speaking again in
a low tone.

"It was
nice...standing with you here, Lauren.But I've got to get back to work now."

My heart
picked up its pace with those words.Did
that mean that Trevor...the person and not the TV host might be interested in
me?God, I hoped so.I then remembered my words earlier and my
face flushed.

"I'm
sorry about what I said earlier - when I called you a Prison Warden.I'm sure that you have a job to do and I'm
sorry if I offended you."

He leaned his
head back then and laughed out loud.His
green eyes were mischievous as he looked at me again.

"Don't
you apologize for that.It was pretty
funny, actually."

I smiled in
relief at that.

"Good."

His expression
went a bit serious then.I watched his
eyes go from me to something just behind me.He then looked down at me and smiled again, but the expression looked
forced.

"I am the
face of this show.Sometimes that's
fortunate but other times it is unfortunate.Just like it is now."

I watched as
he took a step away from me and addressed someone I had not yet seen.Looking around, I saw that the rest of the
contestants were watching us with varying degrees of interest.Had I done something wrong?

"One of
those unfortunate things is the footage I am about to show you all here on the
big screen.It is the audition footage
that each of you sent in.From this
point on, you'll be able to gauge your competitors - see their strengths and
weaknesses."

Trevor took a
couple more steps away from me and spoke in a louder voice.

"You
might have made friends in the past four hours or so - or might have at least
made friendly with your competitors.That might be about to change."

Reviews.Writers need reviews.It lets
prospective readers (and buyers) know that the book is purchasable.It gives them the confidence to take a chance
on a new writer.

Up until yesterday afternoon, I was
annoyed over the lack of reviews I was getting.But then, something happened (sounds like a typical pivot point in my
novels).I went to a hair salon near my
home and read a sign that stuck with me (probably owed to the Business Ethics
class I took back when I was in college).It
read:“A free bottle of XXX shampoo will be given to each customer once their
Yelp review has been posted.”That
bothered me, but I decided to explore it later.

My haircut was just okay, and very expensive,
which bothered me, of course.I then
wondered why I thought I would have a satisfactory experience at that
salon.Then I remembered!The salon was reviewed SO WELL on Yelp.It had tons of 5 star reviews, which was why
I chose it.Most of those good reviews
were probably owed to free shampoo.Not
cool.

So what did I do?I sent an email to the wonderful folks at
Yelp.After all, I’ve done business with
great vendors, which I owe to Yelp.The
classy folks at Yelp are now investigating said salon for “the violation in
policies” exercised by the folks at that beauty salon.

The truth is that I feel a bit like a
tattle-tale; I mostly feel like I am doing a favor to customers who might visit
that salon based on inflated Yelp reviews.

But what does all of that have to do with
book reviews?I’ll tell you.I will no longer solicit them (book reviews).I will no longer guilt my readers into
leaving them.If you buy my books, thank
you.That is all I have to say on that.